This episode is late due to Jonah having to do some film work, but this show also has some huge news items as well.
The news items this week includes:
Let us know what you think in the comments section.
Electronic Arts is planning to lay off 1,000 employees, approximately 10% of their employees. In this layoff their also consolidating EA Black Box back into EA Canada. EA Black Box was spun off as a studio outside of EA Canada to work on such titles as Need for Speed but, with the layoffs arriving, they’re going to be merging the remainder of EA Black Box into EA Canada by June 2009. The remaining EA Black Box employees will continue working on Skate 2.
The pink slips should be issued by March 31, 2009 and we’re hoping the folks that have lost their jobs will find new jobs as soon as possible. An Electronic Arts representative said:
“This does not mean that the Black Box studio is closing. The studio is moving to our Burnaby campus to share the facility with EAC and other EA teams that operate out of our state-of-the-art facility. We will operate two distinct studios, each with their own distinct culture and teams, out of our Burnaby facility.” (gamespot)
EA hasn’t mentioned any specific franchise cancellation but we’re going to assume something is going to slip, it’s hard to imagine a company can lose 1,000 employees without impacting business operations. If EA was able to layoff 1,000 people without impacting day-to-day business, then they’re definitely hurting in the management department because that would be a ton of waste.
Big companies may cut costs during hard times but they said they’re, “implementing a plan to narrow its product portfolio to focus on hit games with higher margin opportunities. The company remains committed to taking creative risks, investing in new games, leading the industry in the growing mobile and online businesses, and delivering high-quality games to consumers.”
We’re curious just how much EA is willing to risk on “creative” endevours considering publishers are already hesitant to break new ground. The next few years should yield great opportunities for smaller developers to put on their creative hat and open new doors and opportunities for themselves.
Nobody wants to get in the way of a hardcore gaming addict. The last thing an addicted user needs to know is their account has been hacked, their weapons and armor have been sold and all of their money is gone.
World of Warcraft is a timeless classic, timeless because you can play it forever, and classic because it’s now going on 4-years old. This MMORPG, like all MMO’s, is account based and your account describes everything about you, your gaming habits and your character traits. It’s the next greatest bundle of important riches aside from your bank account. Shouldn’t it be just as secure?
For a mere €6.00 (or USD $9.46) you can purchase this international electronic device which allows you to press a button to get a secret key to login; the key code is only good for one use so the owner of the device is the only one whom can login to the account.
This system is similar to the PayPal device or some Government Contractor remote login accounts for working from home.
The device is not yet available, but shall be showing up in the “near future.” If you’re a WoW player, consider this because $9.00 is a great piece of mind for hundreds of hours of grinding safety.
With Scott:
With TJ:
This episode was done twice — the Scott version can be seen in the first video. The podcast uses the version with TJ. Feel free to compare both.
Both episodes start with the blockbuster news of Nintendo breaking silence on Switch 2 leaks.
The other news includes:
Let us know what you think of the new site design!
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I can’t wait for Wasteland 3! Huge fan of the original and 2, and can’t wait to see how vehicles come into play.
Also am really excited for Torment: Tides of Numenera, too.